Roofing-tile.



PATENTED MAR. 17', 1903.

H. B. SKBELE. ROOFING TILE.

APPLICATION TILED DBO. 6, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

INVENT w gbb 7! ATTORNEY WITNESSES:

ma Nonms wzrzas co. Pnorou'mo" wAN|NsTom n c UNITED ST TEs PATENT OFFICE,

HENRY B. SKEELE, OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA.

ROOFING-TILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,918, dated March 1'7, 1903.

Application filed December 5, 1902. Serial No. 133,970. (No model.)

T0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY B. SKEELE, :a citizen of the United States, residing-at Savannah, in the county of Ohatham and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Roofing Tiles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of tiles which interlock with one another at their u pper, lower, and lateral edges; and my present invention consists in improvements upon a tile of this character constituting the subjectmatter of Letters Patent of the United States No. 607,489, granted July 19, 1898.

The aforesaid patented tile is of that type which comprises a flat portion and a roll portion, both extending longitudinally of the tile, said flat and roll portions overlapping at their lower ends the corresponding portions of an other similar tile lying next therebelow, the peculiar formation of the tiles preventing their being laid in such a way as to break joints. Such being the case, it becomes essential to provide the tiles along their overlapping margins with gutters or channels adapted to drain off such water as works or beats in between the overlapping margins; and my invention has for its object to improve the formation of the upper channeled margin of the roll portion of the tile through a construction thereof which will present a substantially vertical shoulder-partition resting upon the upper edge of the next laterally adjacent tile overlaid thereby, and thus present a barrier to the admission of water at the joint existing at that point, which has heretofore been merely covered by the lower end of the superjacent tile, but has been otherwise unprotected against the entrance beneath the tiles of moisture, such as is occasioned by a rain-storm beating against the lower overlapping ends of the successive rows of tiles.

To these ends my invention consists in an interlocking roofing-tile having the peculiarities of form and construction substantially as hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of a group of interlocking tiles having my improvements embodied therein and arranged as in service on the roof of a building. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of an individual tile. Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating principally the upper surface of a tile and shown with its upper end nearest the observer, and Fig. l is a crosssectional view through a pair of laterally adjacent and interlocked tiles.

Referring to the drawings, 5 indicates the fiat portion of the tile, extending from top to half the lateral extent of the tile, and 6 indicates the roll portion into which the flat portion 5 merges, said roll portion being narrowest at the upper end of the tile and gradually widening toward the lower end, while the fiat portion 5 is inversely shaped, being Widest at the upper end and gradually narrowing toward the lower end. Along and across the upper surface of the tile at its upper end extend a pairof parallel tongues 7 and 8, constituting walls of a transverse channel 9, and along the upper left-hand margin of the tile, as shown in Fig. 1, extend a similar pair of tongues 10 and 11, forming between them a longitudinal channel 12. It will be observed that the tongue 8 extends across and closes the upper end of the longitudinal channel 12; but the tongue 11 terminates at its junction with the tongue 8, leaving the channel 9 unobstructed the entire width of the upper end of the tile, except as it is abbreviated at the right hand end, as hereinafter more particularly described, but having no communication with channel12. The channels 9 and 12, with their containing walls thus formed, constitute the interlocking members or elements of the tile that are located on its upper surface. As will be seen by reference to the bottom plan view, Fig. 2, the tile is equipped on the two remaining margins thereof on its under surface. with similar and cooperating interlocking elements. These consist of a rib or tongue 13,

nally of the roll portion adjacent to and parallel with the overlapping curl14 of said roll portion and with the latter forming a chanthe tongue 11 of the underlying edge of the next laterally adjacent tile, as plainly shown in Fig. 4, while the tongue 13 lies within the channel 12, its inner shoulder 13 resting upon having a shoulder 13 extending longitudinel15, which channel is adapted to receive bottom thereof and. occupying substantially and making a joint with the top edge of the tongue 10. Across the lower end of the under side of the tile extend a pair of parallel tongues 16 and 17, forming between them a channel 18. lVhen the tiles are laid in interlocking position upon the roof, the channel 18 is entered by the tongue 8 of the next underlying tile, While the tongue 17 interfits with the channel 9 of the next underlying tile. It Will thus be seen that when the tiles are laid in operative position upon the roof each and every tile is positively engaged 'on all four sides thereof with the adjacent edges of the four immediately-surrounding tiles, and it will be further observed that when thus laid the right-hand longitudinal edge and the lower-edge of each tile is exposed, while the tongued and channeled upper edge and lefthand longitudinal edge are covered and protected.

Extending across the under surface of the roll portion 6 of the tile is a lug 19, through the agency of which the tile is wired to the roof, and 20 indicates a rib extending across the upper end of the under surface of the tile, which rests against the cleats of the roof.

In the tile of my former patent above referred to the upper right-hand corner of each tile is notched in order to accommodate the lower left-hand-corner portion of the diagonally adjacent tile in the next row above; but

this construction left a certain vertical space between the elevated abbreviated end of the upper transverse channel portion and the underlying edge portion of the next laterally adjacent tile through which water readily found its way beneath the tiles whenever the tile covering of the roof happened to be subjected to the action of a slanting or oblique rain, tending to beat in under the lower ends of the tiles.

The object of my present improvement is to provide a construction which shall aiford a barrier against the introduction of water at this point, and this I accomplish by giving to the elevated and abbreviated end of the upper channeled margin of the tile a downward extension to a point flush with the shoulder 13*, which extension (indicated in the drawings at 21) constitutes a vertical partition between the joint formed at the meeting-corner of any four adjacent tiles and the under surface of the upper end of the lowerleft-hand tile of the quartet.

I claim 1. A substantially rectangular tile of the character specified comprising longitudinal flat and roll portions, the upper outer margin of the roll portion being cut short of the full width of the tile and at its abbreviated end provided with a' substantially vertical partition extending below the under surface of said roll portion, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A substantially rectangular tile of the character specified, comprising longitudinal flat and roll portions and having tongue-andgroove interlocking devices along opposite margins of its upper and under surfaces, respectively, the marginal interlocking devices disposed across the top surface of the upper end of the tile terminating short of the full width of the roll portion and at their abbreviated end provided with a substantially vertical partition extending down to the level of the interlocking devices on the under side of the roll portion, substantially as and for the purpose described. HENRY B. SKEELE.

Witnesses:

JOHN R. CASE, S. S. FLEMING. 

